Peace on Earth and Goodwill Between Sales and Production

The decorations. The music. The food. The holiday season is a time of cheer and goodwill for many people. Nevertheless, there are two groups who may find each other especially trying this time of year: sales and production. That’s because this isn’t just the holiday season; it’s also the end of the fiscal year for many organizations. While everyone else has visions of sugarplums dancing in their heads, sales has

Guest Blog Part 2: Start Your eKanban Implementation with Value-stream Mapping and Engaging Your Suppliers

by Jim Shore Through this guest blog series, my intent is to share some of my experiences implementing supplier quality and Lean manufacturing initiatives by focusing on eKanban systems. My first post offered advice for planning an eKanban rollout (advice that could be applied across any Lean manufacturing project). In this installment, I’d like to talk about strategies for rolling out an eKanban project that have proven successful for me.

FAQ: What is the Difference Between Pull Manufacturing and Demand-Driven Manufacturing?

I often talk about pull manufacturing and Demand-Driven Manufacturing as though they are one and the same. That’s because, in my mind, they are. However, after reading through a couple of online articles this afternoon, it’s clear not everyone sees it that way. In fact, some of the various ways pull manufacturing is described on the Internet can be a bit confusing. In pull manufacturing, replenishment

Weathering the Next Recession

The global economic recession that started in 2007/2008 hit the manufacturing sector hard. In February of 2009, The Economist even published a piece called The Collapse of Manufacturing. If you recall, this was right about the time the automotive manufacturer bailouts kicked in because they, like the larger financial institutions, were deemed too important to the US economy to fail. It felt like we were on the verge of an

3 Prerequisites to a Modern Demand-Driven Supply Chain

In 2010, Gartner estimated that manufacturers outsourced about 70% of the products they make to other manufacturers. I haven’t seen a recent statistic, but that still feels about right. So, it only makes sense that, for most manufacturers, implementing modern demand-driven or pull-manufacturing techniques will require collaboration with many partners across the entire supply chain. Before you can collaborate with your supply chain partners, you need to get your own

A New Way of Looking at Manufacturing Metrics

Most experts agree. The metrics you use to manage your manufacturing operations need to matter, and they need to be actionable. We concur. For a detailed review of the operational metrics we recommend in a demand-driven manufacturing environment, refer to our Metrics for Action Guide. Conventional wisdom also says to keep the number of metrics you measure to a minimum. This advice is based on well-established research that shows that